


Abyssum Abyssus Invocat

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Europa, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sci-Fi, also pre-forsaken, takes place post-warmind
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 15:11:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16663171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: During a routine patrol on Io, the Hunter Nelan and her Ghost discover a strange signal. Managing to track it back to its source, they find it originated from Europa. Nelan is tasked by the Vanguard to travel to the icy moon and investigate, but what she finds there is like nothing she has encountered before...





	Abyssum Abyssus Invocat

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT: First thing's first. The entirety of this fic is an AU of sorts that is only for the verse of my various Guardians. I've decided to put this note here on the off-chance Europa becomes a future location in Destiny (especially after recent rumors regarding possible leaks).
> 
> This fic I've been trying to work on for maybe 6 months now?? The idea first came about when I came across a single piece of concept art that depicts a frozen colony on Europa. Knowing that we have yet to go there in-game, I lamented that it would be so cool to be able to go here. That lamenting lead to complaining, and then lead to "Well, if I can't go there in-game, I'll write something making my Hunter go there instead". It was originally going to be an adventure just for my Hunter (my main in Destiny), but it has since evolved to include other characters and became a much bigger project.
> 
> Other notes... This fic takes place between Warmind and Forsaken. When planning this, I treated it as if it was it's own expansion, so this is going to be a bit of an adventure (or the Europa Conflict, as my characters will refer to these events later on). Since there is barely anything known about Europa lore wise, there's gonna be a lot in here that in pure conjecture and was made solely for the purpose of this fic. Also the title of this fic is Latin for "deep calleth unto deep". I'm so excited to start posting it here and share it with you all.
> 
> Enjoy.

_ All these worlds are yours – except Europa. _

- HAL, 2010: Odyssey Two

 

Sometimes, when she was on Io and there weren’t any enemies around to bother her, Nelan would stop and look around; take in the surroundings of the moon. The half-terraformed landscape, ever in constant evolution, stretched on for mile upon miles before her. Sometimes Jupiter would slowly cross onto the horizon, the mass of it taking up a good portion of the sky. Nelan had only had the chance of visiting the moon during the Red War after finding Cayde on Nessus, but knew this moon was considered a sacred place. After the things she had seen here, she could see why this place was worth protecting.

The moon itself was one of the places touched by the Traveler, one of the last from what she knew. There was evidence that Humanity might have tried to study the Traveler here, such insight gained from the surviving artifacts scattered across the surface. Murph was more knowledgeable on these things than she was. He and their mutual friend Ison had been traveling here frequently to assess what the Taken and the Vex were doing here, but for him, as a Warlock, Io held more importance.

Nelan had a slight interest in the moon, but for a different purpose, even though the presence of the Taken and Vex worried her. A Warmind vault was discovered on Io, and Nelan, having looked into the mysteries of the Warmind Rasputin in the past (and had met him on Mars), was drawn to it. Still, she understood the importance of Io, why it was sacred. She wanted to protect it from such evils, like her fellow Guardians sought to do all across the system.

Still, among her desire to protect, as was her duty as a Guardian, was always her desire for exploration, as she was a Hunter as well. She may be a Guardian, but she wanted to see what this world had to offer her; what wonders there were to discover. That was one of the reasons she made frequent trips to Nessus; a planet that was by far her favorite place for exploration. Besides, someone had to keep Failsafe company.

Io was a particularly interesting place to try and explore, in part due to all the terraforming still going on. Terraforming didn’t stop her from tree climbing though.

“Request coming through from Asher Mir.” Ivo said in their headspace as Nelan continued to climb up the large tree that resided in the Lost Oasis.

Reaching up to the next branch, Nelan grabbed hold and hoisted herself up. With a huff, she replied, “Asher? But we already went to survey the area around the Pryamidion.”

“No, something different this time.”

The branch Nelan had gotten herself was large enough to rest on for the moment, so she sat herself down upon it and looked out over the area. She took off her helmet and set it on her lap.

“Alright.” She said, fixing her hair up where it had been pressed flat by her helmet. “What is it?”

Her Ghost materialized, floating in air next to her; a Hunter’s symbol of a snake across the front of his shell. “He’s detected something odd that seems to be coming from some old test site near the Mesa. There’s a possibility it’s Vex related, so he wants us to go investigate.”

“We can handle a little Vex,” She smiled at Ivo. “Can’t we?”

“Of course we can!” Ivo replied cheerfully. “Asher’s already sent the coordinates, by the way.”

“Good. Let him know we’re on it, but… let’s just stay here for a moment; admire the view.”

Ivo flew over and rested down in her cloak, nestled in the crook of her neck. “Sure thing, Nelan.”

 

* * *

 

The coordinates took Nelan to a place called the Asimov Base; not too far from the Io Mesa. It vaguely reminded the Hunter of the Cosmodrome and other ruins that were once settlements of the Golden Age. Maybe this place was also from the Golden Age as well; another relic preserved in the post-Collapse decay.

The base itself was settled at the foot of some small mountains; an old road leading to it through a pass. It wasn’t large like anything from the Cosmodrome; it was the size of Firebase Charon maybe. Then again, it didn’t even seem like that. Cabal always tended to go big in their firebases, possibly for dramatic flare or something. This place was not built in the distinct style of the Cabal though, and it appeared that they had skipped over this place during their brief time on Io. They had mainly operated in the Mesa region during the Red War though, trying to steal the energy of the Traveler that still lingered, so it was possible they hadn’t even noticed this place at all.

Nelan did notice that there was some evidence of Vex here and there upon the initial survey. That wasn’t too much of a surprise- she could still see the towering Pyramidion in the distance, if only barely. She understood why Asher sent them here now; he must have detected Vex readings in the area. They were deadly, time-traveling robots, but sometimes she thought they acted like beings who were hungry for any sort of knowledge they could assimilate. Vex were strange.

“How do you wanna do this?” Ivo asked.

Nelan observed the entrance to the base from a nearby ridge; watching a couple Vex wander around outside. “We’ll have to deal with these Goblins out here first; a grenade should do a trick. They shouldn’t have enough time to alert any more Vex to our presence that way should there be more inside, which there probably are.”

“As long the grenade doesn’t bounce of its head again.”

She sighed. “It was the one time.”

Ivo chuckled, the resumed the conversation. “What exactly do you think is in there that Asher wants us to find? He wasn’t really clear on the details.”

“Don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t know ether, but just picked it up as an anomaly. One way or another though, we’re gonna find out, aren’t we?”

He moved his shell in the approximation of a nod. Nelan took her Graviton Lance, making sure her ammo for it was stocked and primed a round into the pulse rifle. She made sure she was stocked on ammo for her sidearm as well. Her Hunter’s knife was at the ready at its own holster on her waist, and Ivo had her sword ready for her if she needed it.

“You ready?” Ivo asked her.

She clicked the safety off on the pulse rifle and situated her grasp on it. “Lets get down there.”

In Nelan’s experience, Fallen and Vex were some of the more easier enemies to deal with. She wasn’t dealing with any Fallen right now, but Vex on the other hand- Vex didn’t move around a lot and mostly relied on their teleportation ability and firepower.

The way it usually went was this: shoot first, assimilate later. Vex also had an easily identifiable weak spot; a glowing core in the middle of most Vex bodies. It made fighting them easier (even if Hobgobblins had annoying failsafe mechanisms if she didn’t shoot them right). Hydras and Cyclops were the only Vex that weren’t like that, in which case you had to aim for the eyes, and unfortunately that made them more of a nuisance, especially with the shields Hydras had. Lucy was the resident expert on Vex in her fireteam though, not Nelan; the Titan knew more about the specifics than she did.

Still, Nelan was pretty sure you could get a couple with even just a grenade.

Hiding behind cover (in this case a decaying building barely big enough for one person), the Hunter waited patiently for the three Vex to move closer to each other so they would be easier to take out. If she could get them in a group and aimed right, she could get them all at once.

When she poked her head out from cover and saw they had moved together, she activated the grenade and tossed it at the Goblins. Thankfully, it did not bounce off any heads. She ducked back into cover and waited the few seconds it took for the grenade to activate. Sure enough, she heard the detonation and the surprised sounds of the Goblins as they went up in flames. When all fell silent, she looked out and saw they were nothing more than charred scraps of metal.

“Got them.” Nelan muttered, pleased.

“Good work.” Ivo complimented as she got out of cover. “Keep your eyes up though. Like you said, there’s likely to be more Vex inside.”

“As always.”

Proceeding inside the base- she was definitely getting Cosmodrome vibes now. It was like walking into the Skywatch all over again. The Hunter’s steps were slow and careful, taking in the dim, abandoned surroundings for any signs of the Vex.

“Guardian, I’ve pinpointed the anomaly Asher mentioned.” Ivo informed her in their headspace. “Marking it on your display.”

“Seeing it now.” She replied quietly. Her display was wired directly into her helmet, so that Ivo could easily direct her and provide her with a radar for picking up motion. Ivo could do so many things, much more than it might appear from a glance. She was blessed to have him by her side; she didn’t know what she’d ever do without him.

Continuing further into the base, all while keeping an eye out for enemies, Nelan navigated the deserted and quiet halls in an attempt to find her target. She couldn’t exactly see through walls, so she could only follow where the halls took her. She’d navigated the Cosmodrome many times in the past though, so this wasn’t much different.

In the meantime, the Hunter’s mind wandered. If this place was from the Golden Age, what was it even for? Why was it on Io? To study the Traveler maybe? That had been a thing. And why was this of interest to the Vex? What was here that they found worth their time (even if time was arbitrary to the Vex)

Entering a large room that looked like a control center, Nelan checked her navigation in her display; she was still on course and getting closer. However, she saw red bleed into her radar.

“Detecting Vex.” Ivo told her.

Nelan took cover behind one of the consoles, hearing a soft noise that she could easily identify as Vex. Her radar said there was something behind where she was hiding, and slowly, Nelan leaned out from behind cover to see what was there.

Three Harpies had wandered into the room, seemingly floating about aimlessly. Or maybe they were scanning the room. Or maybe they were paroling as sentries. In the dim light of the room though, the Harpies somehow reminded Nelan of Ison’s tale of the Gorgons in the Vault of Glass, or at least from how she describedthem. These Harpies however- Nelan listened closely to the sound they were emitting. It sounded Vex-like, but also different; more analog.

“You hear that, Ivo?” She whispered, keeping her voice down as best she could.

“I can pick it up.” He replied. At least the Vex couldn’t hear him. “Strange. It’s… It’s almost like they’re humming something.”

Humming or not, Nelan needed to move past them. Seeing more Vex this far into the base meant she was getting closer. The three in here though- she wasn’t sure if she could get past without setting them all off. She wasn’t a Nightstalker; she couldn’t gain a brief invisibility like they could with a smoke bomb.

Taking her knife (not the one she kept slung around her waist; her knife specifically for knife throws), she eyes the nearest Vex and takes her aim carefully. While she had gotten progressively better with using throwing knives, she still had to be calculating when aiming. She closed one eye, twitched her hand back once… twice- putting force behind her throw, she threw forward and let the knife sail from her hand to the Harpy, the blade finding rest in its eye.

The Harpy stuttered in its tune and sparked- her throwing knives were laced with solar energy; set to explode on impact like a firecracker. Flame lit up on the Harpy as it died and fell to the ground with a clunk. It worked, but seemed to break the other Harpies from their trance as well. Seeing this, Nelan made her move; running forward and grabbing the knife from the Harpy and aiming for another one. She manage to hit her target again, and then repeated the process once more before the last Harpy could register what was going on.

“Looks like we’re getting closer.” Ivo said.

“I think you’re right.” She plucked the knife from the last Harpy. “But… what was with the sound they were making?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps it has to do with what we’re after.”

After leaving that room behind, and after some more exploration, Nelan came upon another area that had two Minotaurs standing outside a door, possibly on guard. These, however weren’t moving and didn’t seem to pick up on her presence. Sneaking by them, she gave them both a glance before entering the area.

It reminded her of where she had seen the Harpies. It was spacious and scattered with various machinery long since out of commission… or so it seemed. This place, however, had a broken ceiling above it that let the sky in. Whether it was collapsed in or had been made of glass at one point, she couldn’t determine. In the center of the room she saw what looked like an old satellite array like those in the Cosmodrome’s Skywatch (if a bit smaller in scale).

And around that array, she saw a group of Vex; still as if hypnotized by something. The circle of machinery around the array was lit up in some places, presumably brought back online by the Vex somehow, and was emitting a similar sound to what she heard before, but more distorted.

The deja vu to Nelan was instant.

“Not this again.” She lamented.

The last time she had seen Vex transfixed like this by a mere sound was when Ivo had picked up an anomaly on one of their com channels while here on Io. Come to find out, Rasputin was messing with Vex via ‘music boxes’ and leaving behind cryptic notes. When they had found the last music box in the Warmind bunker, Ivo (though he did not remember) had been overcome by a calling card from Rasputin which she later realized was a call for help, as the incident with Xol happened shortly after. Nelan had later remarked Rasputin could of just dropped a Warsat on her head like in the good old days.

“It’s like what happened with the music boxes.” Ivo observed. “Somehow I don’t think this is Rasputin’s doing though.”

Her Ghost had a point. Last she knew, Rasputin was safe and content on Mars, Ana Bray serving now as a liaison between the Warmind and anyone else. If this had been the same as before too, surely she would have noticed a music box.

“What’s the plan here?”

The Hunter didn’t give a response to Ivo’s question; standing there and thinking while she watched the Vex. They hadn’t yet noticed her, which was good. She could always shoot them; it was a good as plan as any. However, her objective was to find out what this anomaly was and investigate. Assuming the Vex had brought these terminals back online somehow, she wouldn’t want to accidentally damage any with stray shots or grenades. Or worse; accidentally fry it with her Golden Gun if things escalated to that point.

She needed the information, and those terminals had her answer. The Vex were too preoccupied by this distorted sound to care for some reason, so that did leave a window of opportunity for her.

“Stay close.” Nelan said. “Don’t materialize until I say.”

With her weapons holstered, Nelan took a breath and started moving toward the group of Vex. When she got close to the nearest Vex, a Goblin, she slowed her steps to a crawl. Taking care not to bump into the Goblin, she slipped past it and began to move just as slowly through the group. The way she moved was similar to a dance she had learned from other Awoken Guardians, except slowed to the tiniest increments of movement. Ivo, safely phased away, didn’t protest, thankfully, but Nelan could still feel a touch of anxiety from him as she moved between the spaces of her enemies.

She was nearly at the console- she’d have to slip under the arm of another Goblin and she would have a clear line to it. She crouched, and moved under and through. Once she was at the console, she’d position herself where Ivo could safely come out and access the terminals-

But her hand bumped against the Goblin on the way up.

Nelan took in a sharp breath, but at the same time, she was started by the contact and the possibility she just woke the hypnotized Vex. It didn’t seem to matter though, as she accidentally took a step to the side and knocked her whole body against another Goblin.

That one did wake.

“They’re waking up!” Ivo exclaimed in alarm.

The first one started moving, and then two, and then all of them, all of which were greeted with the sight of her.

She had no choice now. Nelan threw her her arm back to elbow the Goblin she had bumped into to knock it away and drew her sidearm. She aimed and fired at the ones nearest to her, keeping her back to the console. She took down the rest of the group with ease, but heard a crackle of static in the air; the tell-tale sign of Vex appearing.

“More spawning in, including those Minotaurs.”

Now Nelan holstered that and drew her Graviton Lance as the Vex appeared in a flash. They weren’t really near her, but it was the Minotaurs she was more worried about. She aimed for the Goblins that accompanied them first, hitting them in their glowing core, and watched them explode. Purple orbs flew out of their lifeless bodies and flew around like embers. Those embers then magnetized themselves to the Minotaurs and made them stagger back. That was what was so lovely and deadly about the pulse rifle; it was a deadly cosmic beauty.

While the Graviton Lance had made quick work of the Goblins, the Minotaurs were more armored than the Goblins though, so while they had been staggered, she didn’t expect them to go down right away. But her Garviton had done damage still, so while they were staggered, she could strike. She put three shots into each Minotaur, and that was enough to finish them off. More sparks flew off the bodies, flickered around, and then dissolved into the air.

Nelan relaxed, lowering her weapon. “Are we clear, Ivo?”

“I’m not detecting any more Vex.” He confirmed. “We’re good.”

With the Vex gone, she put away her weapon and turned back to the console. She had forgotten about it in the fight, but the distorted noise had vanished. She couldn’t hear it anymore.

On one of the screens in front of her though, she saw something there; what looked like an audio file.

“Ivo, you can come out now.” She said before she brought up the screen. “It looks like there’s an audio file here. It’s labeled E_Amp_V1.5, with a time of two minutes. Do you think this is what had the Vex acting weird?”

“I’m not sure. Is it just the audio file?”

“Appears so.”

“Lets play it and see why it caught the Vex’s attention.”

Ivo accessed the controls and got the audio file to play. A line came up on the screen, flat and horizontal across it. She heard nothing at first, but then the line started to fluctuate with a low hum, which gradually got louder. Nelan winced as it suddenly changed tone; to intermittent and random noises that were making the line fluctuate at various degrees, like picking up on sound waves.

“What is this, Ivo?” She asked, a bit unnerved by the audio.

“I’m… not sure what...”

They continued to listen, until it’s end, abruptly stopping. The line returned to it’s starting state before the label for the audio file appeared again.

“That was… weird.” Nelan commented, then turning to her Ghost, who hovered beside her. “You good? It didn’t, you know, mess with you or anything like with Rasputin’s music boxes?”

“No, nothing like that. I’m perfectly fine, Nelan. I will admit though, this is an odd find.”

“Is there anything you can dig up on this file?”

“Let me take a look.”

Ivo scanned the console, quiet while he dug into the file to get information. When he was done, he looked at the screen for a moment before turning back to her. “This is strange, Nelan.”

“What?” She inquired.

“It is an audio file, like it says, but...” He paused for a moment, almost like he was unsure. “The time stamp is just before the estimated time of the Collapse.”

“What? Are you certain?”

“I am; I checked it twice. That’s not even the strangest part. I’ve managed to find where it originated from.”

“And that is where?”

“This audio file was sent to here, originating from Europa; the sister moon to Io.”

It took Nelan a moment to process this. “...Europa?”

“Yes.”

She had only heard the name in passing, and sometimes, if you looked up into a certain place in the sky, you could see the smaller moon pass across the stars. She knew that it was a world of ice and snow that no one had set foot on since the Collapse, none that she knew of anyway.

But why this file from the ice moon?

“Um, there’s something else here too.” Ivo spoke up. “It was accessed recently from Europa; around the time of the Traveler’s reawakening.”

That made Nelan tense. She remembered that after the reawakening, there had been the incident on Mercury involving the Vex. Osiris had said there were always the infinite pathways, and just because the Vex had been stopped once, it didn’t mean they wouldn’t try again.

Vex had clearly accessed this file here, but if there was also something that had accessed this from Europa…

“Ivo, can you copy this file?” Nelan asked. “I think we might need to bring this back to the Vangaurd.”

“Of course. Copying now.” It took him a moment to copy the file. “On storage.”

“Thank you.”

Nelan looked back to the screen, to the audio file. Her mind went back to the information Ivo had found as well as what she had heard.

All the while the name of Europa remained at the forefront of her thoughts.

**Author's Note:**

> Spoiler: She’s very wrong about the Vex.
> 
> The name of the base Nelan explores comes from a post I saw on tumblr regarding rumors going around at the time of the Warmind DLC.
> 
> The audio file that Nelan finds/puts the Vex into the trance is inspired/based off a tune called "Moins Banal (interlude, ou impromptu)" from the end of the album Cosmic Machine- The Sequel. It sounds weird enough to be like a mysterious transmission from space anyway XD


End file.
